For A Great Escape, The Outside Room Is `In'

Balconies, Verandas, Courtyards And Terraces Are The Latest Must-have Options For Private Space.

February 20, 2000|By Donna Gehrke White, Miami Herald

MIAMI - Annmarie and Tony Howe wanted a getaway - someplace to unwind after a day of working and taking care of Cheyenne, 9, and Courtney, 6.

They found it in their own home. It's a balcony, off the master bedroom of a five-bedroom house the Howes are building at the Mariposa community in western Miramar's Monarch Lakes.

Now the Howes finally have a place to just relax by themselves.

``It's a private retreat,'' Annmarie Howe said.

Many other people are adding outdoor ``rooms.'' From balconies to covered patios, they are becoming more popular than ever.

Indeed, the latest must-haves in a new home aren't inside but out: courtyards, roofed upstairs verandas and downstairs terraces, and covered walkways, or loggias. Builders are including the outside ``rooms'' in the cost of the home or giving buyers the option of paying extra - which many are.

And while most new homes have always included some outside paved space - even if it's a concrete patch - they're getting bigger. And there are more of them.

Take the Howes' new home.

It will have not only the balcony but a covered terrace downstairs.

``It will be nice, because we intend to build a pool by the terrace,'' Annmarie Howe said.

Many new condominiums also offer sprawling outside rooms, from 5,000-square-foot terraces for ground-floor units at Fisher Island to penthouse verandas that span more than 200 feet at South Beach's Continuum. Many luxury condominiums have at least two balconies or terraces.

Michael Kane of London will have two balconies to choose from when he wants to go outside and enjoy the sun at his new Oceania condominium in Sunny Isles Beach.

Both of them, he says, are as big as rooms and can accommodate furniture as well as many guests. In fact, their total square footage - 1,400 - adds up to the size of a small house.

That's what Kane wanted.

``I want to spend a lot of time outside,'' he said, in a phone call from his London home. ``I wanted to be able to eat breakfast outside, to sunbathe. I also wanted to be able to entertain outside.''

The demand for the outside areas reflect the back-to-nature yearnings of many people. A survey released earlier this year found that most Americans want to live amid natural open spaces, according to American Lives, a research firm in Oakland, Calif.

That is especially true here, builders say.

``We are in Florida, of all places. This is where people want to enjoy the outside, from the beautiful sunrises to sunsets,'' said Lani Kahn Drody, marketing director of Lowell Homes, which builds in Miami-Dade and Broward.

Many buyers with a view out their window, whether it's the ocean, a lake or a golf course, want to capitalize on that by having a balcony to enjoy it, said Fernando Martinez, vice president of marketing for Caribe Homes. His company is offering about a half-dozen models with various kinds of balconies in its latest development, Venezia Lakes in Southwest Miami-Dade.

Customers want the ``tranquillity, the serenity we need at the end of the day. Can you imagine going out to the balcony at the end of the day? Having your coffee there? It really helps with the day-to-day stress,'' Martinez said.

``People use them as a retreat, a quiet place,'' said Jeff Auchter, Lennar's marketing director in Broward. ``They're a great space to get away.''

Lennar introduced balconies off second-floor master suites to South Florida several years ago - and found them very popular.

In fact, many buyers of new houses are willing to pay extra money - up to $16,000 more - for an optional balcony, courtyard or covered terrace, says Nanette Plescia, a G.L. Homes vice president and project manager at SilverShores in Miramar. ``They're a popular option,'' she said. ``People can look out at the stars at night or enjoy the lake, if they bought a lakefront lot.''

Like other builders, G.L. offers models with at least a small patio; several have covered terraces and some two-story models have balconies or even room-size verandas.

Harold and Jessie Ramos were willing to pay extra to have an extended covered porch at their new home at Westbrooke's Monaco at Sunset Lakes in Miramar.

``It pretty much covers the whole half of the house,'' Harold Ramos said. ``We wanted to enjoy the outdoors.''

G.L.'s Plescia also says that buyers want an outdoor room because ``It's kind of a prestigious look; it kind of makes a statement,'' even if the balcony is in the back.

``How the outside of homes look is more and more important,'' said Lowell's Kahn Drody, who added that people want their homes to look different from the others.

People are trying to get away from the cookie-cutter look, agrees real estate analyst Mark Cannon, residential division director of Integra Realty Resources in Miami, formerly known as Appraisal and Real Estate Economics Associates.